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Thread ID: 65406	2006-01-17 04:53:00	Graphics Card	Ali_C (8971)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
421793	2006-01-17 04:53:00	I'm 15 years old and I am upgrading my PC one component at a time! I have already Upgraded the Memory and also brought a DVD Writer. My next "Project" is to upgrade the Graphics/Video card. Are all video cards the same? Or are they different? When I mean different I mean like the Memory Cards. You can get SDRAM and DDR or something like that! So if I buy a Graphics Card, will it fit or is there different ones? And also how do I find out what type of Graphics Card do I have at the moment? And also how do I upgrade the Processor? Currently I have an AMD Duron (TM) Processor - 896 Mhz, Thanks a lot, Alister P.S Are Graphics and Video cards the same? :confused:	Ali_C (8971)
421794	2006-01-17 05:07:00	Hi Alister Your current motherboard will dictate what sort of graphic (video) card it can take. It will also have a limit on how much more you can upgrade the CPU. Generally on a machine that age, you tend to look at replacing the motherboard as part of the upgrade package or start afresh. You probably wouldn't get much bang for buck apart from upgrading the memory which you already have done. What is your motherboard make/model? Also, what sort of wattage and model is your power supply?	Jen (38)
421795	2006-01-17 07:56:00	I'm 15 years old and I am upgrading my PC one component at a time! P.S Are Graphics and Video cards the same? :confused: After it gets to a certain age its too hard/not worth it. Finding suitable parts - like another CPU to fit your particular board could be tricky as they aren't made anymore and you'd have to find one second hand. And then there is the problem of checking it is working ok. As for graphics/video cards - which are the same thing - first of all you need to have an AGP slot on your current motherboard to be able to install a new one. If it hasn't got one (and is instead using built in (integrated) graphics then you may as well give up on that motherboard. Also the new graphics cards are now using PCI-Express - this is not the same as PCI, but is a new standard for graphics card slots on the new motherboards. AGP is becoming obsolete although its not gone quite yet. It does depend what you want to use the PC for. Just general home office and internet use or gaming? If its for gaming then you may as well throw it out and start again with new parts. Installing new hard drives, CD or DVD drives and more RAM is not a problem though.	pctek (84)
421796	2006-01-17 16:28:00	I'm 15 years old and I am upgrading my PC one component at a time! I have already Upgraded the Memory and also brought a DVD Writer. My next "Project" is to upgrade the Graphics/Video card. Are all video cards the same? Or are they different? When I mean different I mean like the Memory Cards. You can get SDRAM and DDR or something like that! So if I buy a Graphics Card, will it fit or is there different ones? And also how do I find out what type of Graphics Card do I have at the moment? And also how do I upgrade the Processor? Currently I have an AMD Duron (TM) Processor - 896 Mhz, Thanks a lot, Alister P.S Are Graphics and Video cards the same? :confused: I would strongly suggest that you give up. Any money you spend will be wasted.Adding ram was about the only thing you could do. I doubt if you will be able to do anything meaningfull with a DVD writer. Your computer is worth very little,if anything, and any upgrade you do will not add much to the value. I realise that at your age money is probably hard to come by, so don't waste it.	JJJJJ (528)
421797	2006-01-17 17:00:00	jeez you lot ! sure it's not going to be future proofed if this young man upgrades his pc cause its limited by the motherboard etc but however to 'strongly suggest you give up' is a bit much.........hell it'll only cost him less than $150 to make considerable improvements to that machine.....not everyone wants the latest and greatest......i put a 128mb agp card, (cheap one) into someones machine for them the other day, machine similar to this oen here, they wanted better graphics not a whole new pc.......that's what they got...better graphics at a pretty reasonable price.... for about $65 you could put in a 128mb agp graphics card which would be some improvement, assuming you have a agp slot......which you probably do.......and you can most likely still buy NEW cpu's that will fit your board, not so easy to fnid now but not impossible either.........you will need an AMD SOCKET A cpu such as an athlon or sempron possibly they go up to around 2.5Ghz .....you can EASILY buy a second hand one for well under $100 now your board may not be capable of running some of this stuff.......so download and run either aida32 or everest home edition, (which is pretty much an exact clone of aida32 anyway), both of these two programs will tell you all you could wish to know about your pc hardware etc...........	drcspy (146)
421798	2006-01-17 17:25:00	DRCSPY. You are right of course. And doing as you say will be an improvement. If he has an AGP slot! I'd lay a bet that he has inbuilt graphics for a start. And going by the questions he asked I'd also bet he will finish up in all sorts of trouble and probably without a working computer of any sort. It would help if we had more details, but what if he has an older Dell or Pavillion. What can you do with those? I stand by my advice.	JJJJJ (528)
421799	2006-01-17 17:37:00	DRCSPY. You are right of course ;-) ........ah........yep.........see below:	drcspy (146)
421800	2006-01-17 18:35:00	.......and you can most likely still buy NEW cpu's that will fit your board, not so easy to fnid now but not impossible either.........you will need an AMD SOCKET A cpu such as an athlon or sempron possibly they go up to around 2.5Ghz Really? Where? And I said it depends what he wants to do with it.	pctek (84)
421801	2006-01-17 18:46:00	theres some 'new' on trademe and I"m fairly certain you can still get socket A cpu's in some shops........as I siad they're not impossible to find......and there's plenty of 2nd hand ones...	drcspy (146)
421802	2006-01-17 19:17:00	theres some 'new' on trademe and I"m fairly certain you can still get socket A cpu's in some shops........as I siad they're not impossible to find......and there's plenty of 2nd hand ones... Thats not new. None of the suppliers have had any for ages. Like I said - Finding suitable parts - like another CPU to fit your particular board could be tricky as they aren't made anymore and you'd have to find one second hand. And then there is the problem of checking it is working ok.	pctek (84)
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